In many fields of trade and industry, there is a general need for systems and methods for monitoring and evaluating the performance of a product or a service on a market, in particular for estimating the expected future sales of such a product or service. In this manner, information as regards market trends, marketing impact and competition can be used. By using such information in a suitable manner, the sale of the product or service in question can be expected to be improved.
One such field of trade is the medical industry, in which there is a need to monitor and evaluate the marketing situation and market performance of various medical drugs related to different diseases. As suggested above, the obtained information can then be used to improve the sale of the drugs in question.
For example, when a pharmaceutical company intends to launch a new medical drug, the company will normally be interested in determining the conditions under which the marketing of the agent will gain the highest market shares and number of patients using the drug in the relevant markets. In this manner, the likelihood of a successful launching of the drug in question can be increased.
To a great extent, the market for drugs is constituted by physicians issuing prescriptions of drugs to patients. This means that a high degree of marketing efforts and advertising are invested in a manner so as to influence the physicians to adopt, select and prescribe a particular brand of a drug.
The process in which a physician gradually obtains an interest for a drug—from an initial stage in which the physician becomes aware of the drug until a final stage in which the particular drug has become the physician's first rated drug, or “drug of choice” —can be referred to as the “adoption” of the drug in question. If a physician has fully “adopted” a particular drug, it can be expected that the sales of that drug will be improved.
There are existing ways of providing information of the market performance of particular drugs, by collecting information related to prescriptions issued by a number of physicians during a particular time period. Although such a known method would provide information as to the actual market position of a particular drug, it will not provide the reasons behind the selection process which the physicians undergo when deciding which (of several) drugs to prescribe against a certain given disease.
Furthermore, there is a demand for improved ways of forecasting changes in sales and to estimate and present information related to the present market performance of a product or service. In order to obtain accurate information regarding the marketing situation related to a drug (or, in fact, any other product), it is of importance to provide means for collecting, transmitting and presenting data related to, for example, the adoption of the drug, for quick and easy understanding and treatment of such data by the respective end user. In particular, it is known that a significant part of a brand's marketshare is constituted by so-called repeat sales, i.e. the case in which a customer repeatedly purchases the same brand, while changes in the total market and/or a brand's share of the market might emanate from consumers entering or leaving the market or switching between brands.
It can thus be noted that it is desirable for companies to monitor and process information as regards the market situation for a particular product in a more effective manner. In particular, there is a desire for obtaining information related to a pre-launch strategy of a product, in terms of complete and correct pre-launch decisions, in order to determine the post-launch performance of the product on its relevant markets. In this manner, the post-launch performance and consequently also the success of the product can be expected to be optimised.
When a company intends to launch a product, a number of decisions have to be taken. For example, it should be determined which so-called “unique selling point” is the most relevant for the product. In this regard, its efficacy, mode of action or side effect profile can for example be taken into account. Furthermore, it should be determined which are the most important unmet needs of the market, as regards the efficacy of existing drugs on the market. Other conceptual options (for example efficacy, faster onset of action, better side effect profile etc.) for the product should also be considered. Also, the relevant market target group (specialists or general practitioners) should be determined, as well as the price level of the product to be launched. In summary, the total number of possible decision combinations which influence the post-launch success of the product can be substantial, which means that it is difficult to take the correct decisions for a product launch. In particular, there is difficulty in determining which combination of decisions will render the highest number of patients for the product, i.e. the highest impact on the relevant markets.